Yesterday I had a phone meeting with a great gal from Texas.  Unbeknownst to me she’s been a fan from the Lone Star state, where I have a number of collectors, and where she’s been watching my career via annrea.com.

She and her local wine industry colleagues are interested in commissioning me to paint vineyards in Texas.  Yes, there are vineyards in Texas, not just California.  And Texas is actually an established and growing wine region with spectacular landscapes in the hill country.

She asked me how I came to do what it is that I do.  I explained how I came up with my initial marketing strategy and how I started my business.  One comment that she made, sounding like a true Texan, was that to be in business “you have to have two things, money and stomach.”  I laughed and replied “If you don’t have money you can get it if you have enough stomach.”

Many people have told me that they think it was brave of me to move to San Francisco and to paint full time.  Ironically, looking back it took more bravery to endure a disimpassioned day job and to let my passion and talents go to waste.  I simply made a choice of commitment.

The conversation yesterday reminded me of the complete commitment required to develop any enterprise and the other level of commitment required to honing one’s creative skill and artistic voice.  Despite the inevitable ups and downs of growing a business and the economy one thing remains constant, I’m committed.  And I don’t have the stomach for anything else but my art business.

I was pondering the investment required for my one-on-one artist consulting and coaching services.  Recently it has been suggested to me that the cost of these services are too low for the value that’s provided.  Although every one of my artist clients is different, and so are their results, most artists increase their sales to cover the fee during the time we’re working together.  If they don’t, artists can see clearly how they will increase their sales the near future.

This got me thinking and I decided to examine the current annual cost of the fine art education that I received. I attended the Cleveland Institute of Art, established in 1882, a prestigious member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design.  This year the annual tuition is $47,780! The investment for my services? They’re a small fraction of the current annual tuition.

In 1987, the bachelors program I attended required five years.  I can’t imagine taking on that investment of money and time at this point in my life without a clear path to success in mind.  But for those students who have, I wish them the very best.  Because the odds are not good, even with the finest education from a prestigious art school.

Part of the artist dropout is simply unavoidable but tragically much of this is avoidable.  Even the very best art schools do not adequately prepare their graduates for the realities of the art market. If a student wants to become, and remain, a professional artist they’re going to have to make an additional investment.  That is an investment of time, money, and effort in learning and applying business and marketing principles to their art career, or rather, their art “business.”  If there’s no employer involved, we’re talking about a business, not a career.

I’ve said before that I believe that becoming a top artistic talent is much more of a challenge than learning about marketing and the business of art.  Evidence of this abounds.  We see mediocre talent in the art and music industries everyday. What’s happening?  A lot of mediocre does well when it is effectively targeted to a well-defined market.

Besides instruction, just think of what we must invest in art supplies, photography, framing, or show fees, etc.  Now why is it that are we not investing more in our businesses?

I’ve asked my social media consultant Amy of Little Bits Consulting, to piggy back off of the end of my last post, common mistakes that I observe with artist’s websites, and to talk about social media.

Little Bits Consulting provides expertise and guidance to help extend your brand, grow audience, and increase revenues through strategic business relationships, savvy marketing and improving the effectiveness of your current audience development initiatives.

Get your House in Order! -Social Media as a Tool to Grow Your Art Business

Today we’re going to take a look at a popular New Years Resolution almost everyone can relate to:  getting organized, and how the organized principle can keep your business in order too.

As an Audience Development Consultant, I’m often asked about the latest trends in social media: from how to use facebook to grow sales to what the h*#@ is twitter anyway?  When organizing and getting your house together, you don’t start by building an addition – you start by taking inventory and making the best use of what you have. The same is true with social media.  You don’t jump into Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media darling until you have your own house (in this case, your business house) in order.

Its important to start with the basics – social media sites are communications tools, and they’ll only work for you if you have first have well-proven marketing principles in place:

1. Define your Audience Demographics & Psychographics:  Who are you trying to reach and where are they?  If your target market are members of the AARP, chances are they aren’t on twitter (yet!).  Know Your Customer.

2. Clarify your message:  Be clear in the value you bring and what you have to offer, and keep it consistent wherever you talk about your brand – be that on facebook, in email marketing, or your very own website.

3. Set Goals:  Ann talks in several of her posts about the importance of setting goals for your business.  This is also true in marketing – set goals for all of your marketing tactics, measure the results and clean house – keeping only what’s working effectively and efficiently to improve your bottom line.

The end result of following these principles will allow you to easily & simply identify whether a business deal you’re contemplating, a new social media website, or new venture are right for you and your business.